1983 Evinrude 115 intermittent power loss

Jmblooz

Recruit
Joined
Jul 18, 2011
Messages
2
I am an auto tech and I play with boat because I enjoy it, but I need help and I already have learned a ton from all the knowledge on this site.

This outboard will run great on start up, it will miss a little at low R's but if I wack it it will get up and go. After it's warmed up and been running at about 5000rpm for a bit, if I back off throttle it will loss power, kinda die out then back to life and back and forth untill I hit it again then will jump out of the water again. Just wondering where to begin troubleshooting
 

emdsapmgr

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Dec 9, 2005
Messages
11,551
Re: 1983 Evinrude 115 intermittent power loss

It's either a spark or fuel issue. Probably easiest to work on the spark first, since it either works or doesn't. When you have running issues, remove the cowl and clamp an inductive timing light on all 6 plug wires and see what the quality of spark shows thru the gun flashes. Weak ignition components tend to fail when the engine reaches normal operating temperature. You engine has 6 identcal coils and two identical power packs. These can be swapped for testing purposes. (the other two ignition components: stator and timer base can't be swapped for testing.) If the spark checks out, then start looking at the fuel side. Post what you find out.
 

Jmblooz

Recruit
Joined
Jul 18, 2011
Messages
2
Re: 1983 Evinrude 115 intermittent power loss

Thanks for the info, :update: last night we fired it up for a short night run and I had the cover off so I could see the motor and when it started I could see arching from the left power pack ground wire, sure enough it was loose, ran great after that but i need to really test it today. More to come:
 
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